Rich Dad Advisor and Tax Expert

Today, I am so excited to welcome Tom Wheelwright! Tom is known as a tax and wealth expert, he is a CPA, and the CEO of WealthAbility®. He is the Best-Selling Author of Tax-Free Wealth (part of the Rich Dad Advisors Series). Tom is a speaker, entrepreneur, and host of two popular podcasts: The WealthAbility™ Show and The WealthAbility® for CPAs Show. He is a contributor to Entrepreneur magazine, and his work has been seen in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, FOX and Friends, and many other media outlets.

We begin this episode, as we often do, with Tom’s background. Tom began his career doing bookkeeping for his father’s company. After getting his master's of Professional Accounting degree from the University of Texas, he managed and led the professional training for thousands of CPAs at Ernst & Young’s National Tax Department in Washington, D.C. He was an in-house tax advisor for Pinnacle West Capital Corporation, at the time a Fortune 1000 company and he also served as an adjunct professor in the Masters of Tax program at Arizona State University for 14 years, where he created the course for teaching multi-state tax planning techniques. Tom now teaches the Rich Dad Education Advanced Tax and Asset Protection class and he is also currently building a network of CPA firms around the world in order to serve more people.

We then talk about the importance of planning and thinking ahead when it comes to taxes. Having these discussions with your CPA early on in the tax year helps you to prepare properly. As a successful business owner, you need to know your numbers every single day. And when you know where you stand, it is much easier to plan out your taxes.

We briefly touch on the differences between bookkeepers and CPAs. According to Tom, your bookkeeper is there to provide accurate records that help you make right decisions. Your CPA is there to analyze those records. The role of your bookkeeper is to keep you accountable, and it is that accountability that creates profitability.

Tom then talks about buying and selling CPA firms, as well as creating them from scratch. He walks us through the process of turning around a CPA firm after the purchase. For Tom, it was all about building appropriate systems. For example, very few CPAs have a system for meeting with clients: when, how often, what is the goal, etc. Tom believes that systems are what creates value in a business, that they are the primary asset of the business.

We then move on to talking about Tom's partnership with Robert Kiyosaki. The two met when Tom bought a CPA firm that had Robert as one of the clients. This just proves that you never know where your contacts can lead you. Tom goes into detail explaining how all the pieces came together at the right time and led to him becoming Robert’s tax advisor.

We then discuss the current political situation. We talk about how political changes affect us and what should we know from a small-business standpoint. Tom’s estimate is that the taxes will probably go up in the next four years. The incentives will probably shift to clean, renewable energy. From a real-estate point of view, if you have a real estate with solar production or hydroelectric production, that will be a great source of cash-flow. These changes will require an adjustment to how we think when it comes to real estate.

Lastly, we dive into the stimulus bill. Tom takes us through some of the most important parts of the bill as far as taxes are concerned: restaurant business meals (both takeout and dine-in) are 100% deductible for the next two years, extending the universal charitable deduction through 2021, and qualifying for PPP loans. Tom then goes on to explain PPP loans even further in regards to the new act.

You do not want to miss this amazing and advice-packed episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with the legendary tax expert, Tom Wheelwright!

Notable Quotes:

“One of the mistakes that new entrepreneurs, new investors get into is that they are catching up on their taxes, instead of staying ahead.”

Tom Wheelwright

“Good tax records and good tax practices are also good business practices.”

Tom Wheelwright

“If you are running a good, tight business and you know your numbers, tax season won’t be so stressful because you will have the information available.”

Mike Simmons

“Your bookkeeper is there to create accuracy, accurate records that you can make good decisions from and your CPA should be there to analyze those records.”

Tom Wheelwright

“If you don't have the documentation, you don’t get to deduct that expense.”

Tom Wheelwright

“What a system does is actually create value. Because if you don’t have a system, really all you are doing is constantly selling. If you constantly have to sell, you don’t really have a business, you have a job as a salesman. ”

Tom Wheelwright

“You can sell a business, but a business has to have assets and primary assets are going to be the systems of the business”

Tom Wheelwright

“A sellable business is also a well-run business.”

Mike Simmons

“Once you find the formula that you can repeat over and over again, all of a sudden business is easy. When you are making a new decision every day, that makes business hard.”

Tom Wheelwright

“I happen to believe that business produces income; workers are necessary but they are not the reason that business survives. The business survives because of the assets in the business.”